Okay, after a few hours of frustration I figured it out. Sorry if this is easy-peezy to the experts here.

Posting just for posterity...

1. Booted into Safemode with command mode. The ubiquitous but hidden Administrator account is visible here.
2. Entered this command to activate the Administrator account visibility:
net user administrator /active:yes
3. Booted into this Admin account, now visible, in Windows the regular way and changed my usual account back to Admin.
4. Entered this in a command prompt to disable the Admin account visibility:
net user administrator /active:no

Reasons why this was not as easy as portrayed on every online tutorial:

1. Safemode for Win10 looks so different from anything else I was accustomed to, it took a while to get into it
2. This PC came installed with Win8, then upgraded to Win10 online, so no physical media was available.
3. Some tutorials asked for recovery media, and my Win10 install refused to create recovery media for some reason
4. I had forgotten my Admin password because I had never set it. Hint: Hit ENTER if it prompts for one and it's never been set.
5. Attempts to boot into regular Safemode Administrator gave me a non-working Win10 Safemode. Specifically, it showed a standard windows screen with taskbar, but NOTHING worked.

2. This PC came installed with Win8, then upgraded to Win10 online, so no physical media was available.
3. Some tutorials asked for recovery media, and my Win10 install refused to create recovery media for some reason.

Yes. by default the built-in Administrator account is disabled and has no password. Well done for sorting this out for yourself, and especially for remembering to disable Administrator once you'd finished using it.

You should be able to use the Recovery Media Creator to make a bootable USB (just type 'recovery drive' in the Cortana/Search box).

If that's not working for you, then you can use Microsoft's Media Creation Tool to make a bootable USB containing the full install media for Windows 10.

4. Select (dot) Create installation media for another PC, and click/tap on Next....... Note
Leaving the Use the recommended options for this PC box checked will have the Media Creation Tool create a USB flash drive that's the same language, edition, and architecture as the current PC.

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